Business Manchester: Innovative Manchester businesses could benefit from millions more in R&D tax relief

Date: February 21, 2019

Businesses in Manchester could be claiming millions more in research and development (R&D) tax credits as more than eight in 10 companies across the city are eligible, according to tax relief specialists Catax.

A massive 84 per cent of companies in Manchester have developed new products or business processes in the last two years, spending an average of £209,758 on these innovations, research shows.

This means these companies are in line for valuable R&D tax relief that the government provides to encourage innovation.

But so far only 48 per cent of all Manchester firms report having claimed the tax credits which means at least 43 per cent of eligible firms could start claiming, boosting their revenue by tens of thousands of pounds every year, according to the study.

Manchester business executives believed the average value of an R&D tax relief claim in the first year to be just £19,118 when the true figure is more than double that, at £49,000 for firms in all sectors nationwide. R&D doesn’t have to have been successful to qualify and claims can be backdated at least two years.